Personalize Your ArcGIS Pro Workspace

One of the fastest ways to get time back is to stop accepting the default configuration of the tool you use every day. Many professionals who use ArcGIS Pro don’t realize how much can be tailored to match the way they work. This post covers two levels of personalization: Customizing the user interface to reduce repetitive clicks and tailoring individual projects so every new one starts exactly where you need it to. I recommend saving and revisiting the blog as you incorporate these productivity boosts.

Customizing the User Interface

The user interface is a great first place to begin tweaking in ArcGIS Pro. There are many ways you can reduce searching for tools and switching between tabs while you work. Check out some of the areas below.

The Ribbon

The Ribbon sits at the top of the window in ArcGIS Pro and organizes tools into core tabs and contextual tabs that update based on what you’re working with. Because the ribbon is customizable, you can tailor it to match your workflow by adding or removing commands, creating custom groups, or building entirely new tabs that surface the tools you use most. This helps reduce time spent switching tabs and keeps frequently used tools within easy reach. The User Interface is also a great place to start if you want to simplify how you or your end users experience ArcGIS Pro and hide unnecessary tabs.

Example: An analyst might create a custom tab that groups selection, geoprocessing, and export tools used during daily quality assurance workflows.

Key things to know:

• The ribbon changes based on what is selected and which view is active, which is why tools may appear or disappear as you work. Understanding this behavior helps reduce time spent searching for commands that are context-dependent rather than missing.
• Built-in groups on default ribbon tabs cannot be modified, but their commands can be added to custom tabs. This makes custom tabs the primary way to consolidate tools that normally live across multiple tabs into a single, workflow-specific location.
• Ribbon customizations are saved to your user profile, not to individual projects, which means your custom tabs and groups remain static across projects on the same machine.

Tip: When the “Keep current ribbon tab active when switching views” check box is checked, the ribbon tab does not change when you switch views. Learn how.

Pane Sets

Panes are areas that focus on one task. They help you manage layers in the Contents pane, edit attributes in the Attribute pane, or run tools in the Geoprocessing pane without interrupting work in a view. A good way to manage panes is through pane sets, which are collections of panes that open together to support a specific workflow, and any not included will close altogether. If a pane is not included in a set, it will close. Read the blog for more about improvements in ribbon, pane, and view management in ArcGIS Pro.

Example: A map author might switch between an “Editing” pane set and an “Analysis” pane set instead of opening and closing multiple other panes repeatedly throughout the day.

Key things to know:

• Pane sets save which panes are open but not the position of panes. Instead, panes open to the screen location where they last appeared. They do not save tool state, selections, or active commands, so they work best as a starting layout rather than a snapshot of work in progress.
• Because ArcGIS Pro may automatically open or update panes as you use tools, treat pane sets as flexible starting points, not fixed workspaces.

The Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar is a small, customizable toolbar that is always available, providing one-click access to commands you use frequently, regardless of the active view. By adding your most-used commands you can reduce tab switching and keep core actions always within easy reach.

Example: An Editor might add Save Edits, Undo, and Select to the Quick Access Toolbar to keep essential editing actions visible.

Key things to know:

• Commands on the Quick Access Toolbar are always available regardless of which ribbon tab is active, making it well suited for high-frequency actions. Like ribbon customization, these settings are saved to your user profile rather than the project.
• The toolbar works best when limited to a small number of repeat actions. Think of it as a shortcut strip, not a mini-ribbon.

Tip: Once you’ve found a command to make readily available, you can right-click > add to quick access toolbar. Also, if you’re in ArcGIS Pro and can’t remember how to add a tool to the Quick Access Toolbar or are looking for a specific tool, try entering a question in the command search at the top of the window. If you enable Semantic Search in ArcGIS Pro, you’ll get even more robust results there and in other areas of the application.

Tip: The Copy, Cut, and Paste commands use the clipboard to copy and paste selected features or table records to the same layer or table. Consider making these accessible as keyboard shortcuts, in your customized ribbon, or on the Quick Access Toolbar.

Customizable Toolbars on a View

The Quick Access Toolbar gives you access to common commands everywhere, while view toolbars are specific to the view you’re working in, like a map view, attribute table, or chart view. This makes them useful when you need tools right away in a certain situation without going back to the ribbon. Check out the blog to learn how you can bring your most-used toolbars into view or go directly to the help documentation to learn more about customizing toolbars on a view.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts provide a fast way to run commands and navigate ArcGIS Pro without relying on the mouse. Many common actions have built-in shortcuts, and you can customize them by changing keystrokes, adding new ones, or removing shortcuts you don’t need. Shortcuts can be global or contextual, and the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog can display only the shortcuts relevant to your current application state. Read the blog to learn more about contextual keyboard shortcuts.

Example: If you want to customize a command that is hard to find, right-click the command and select, Configure Shortcut.

Key things to know:

• Press F12 to open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog, where you can view, learn, and customize shortcuts across the application.
• Shortcuts can be global or context-sensitive depending on the active tool, view, or pane, which allows the same keystroke to perform related work in different contexts.

Customizing Your Projects

Beyond the user interface, ArcGIS Pro lets you tailor how individual projects are set up and organized. These adjustments reduce repetitive setup, support consistent work, and ensure each project starts with the resources and design elements you need.

Project Defaults

By default, each ArcGIS Pro project gets its own home folder, geodatabase, and toolbox, keeping data, outputs, and models is self-contained and organized.

Example: A GIS analyst creates a new project, uses several geoprocessing tools, and builds a model in ModelBuilder. But the model’s outputs are in a local folder instead of the team’s shared geodatabase. The model is saved in a place where no one else can see it. Configuring these defaults at the start prevents exactly that.

Key things to know:

• By default, ArcGIS Pro creates a new project file (.aprx) and file geodatabase (.gdb) in a personal folder, but both can be redirected to a shared network location or enterprise geodatabase (.sde) so outputs are organized where your team expects them.
• The default toolbox can similarly be pointed to a shared location to keep ModelBuilder models accessible.
• To update any of these, go to Project, then Options, then Current Settings. Learn more here.

Tip: Set these defaults in your project template so every new project starts with the right connections already in place.

Project Templates

A project template captures a configured project state so that new projects begin with the same maps, layouts, connections, styles, and resources already in place. Templates are especially useful when projects follow similar workflows and you want to eliminate the setup work that repeats every time.

Example: A team might start every project from a template that already includes standard layouts, shared data connections, and a default geodatabase.

Key things to know:

• Project templates are saved as .aptx files, a special type of project package used only to create new projects.
• After you use a template once, it appears on the start page and Settings page in your Recent Templates list, making it easy to access without browsing.
• Templates created in earlier versions of ArcGIS Pro remain compatible with later versions, supporting long-term reuse.
• ArcGIS Pro provides default project templates alongside the ability to create your own.
• To make a project template accessible across multiple machines, it is recommended that you store it in your portal. Learn more about sharing project templates.

Tip: When sharing a project template to users within your organization, make sure they have access to the common resources stored in the template. If they don’t, you can remove the connections and consolidate data sources. For sharing outside of your organization, consider providing a project package rather than a template.

Project Favorites

Project favorites are a collection of frequently used folders, databases, toolboxes, servers, custom styles, and other items that you can add to projects as needed. By saving commonly used resources as favorites, you avoid recreating connections every time you start something new.

Example: A GIS analyst might save an enterprise geodatabase and a shared toolbox as favorites and add them to new projects when needed.

Key things to know:

• Favorites store references to resources rather than copying data into a project, so changes to the original location affect all projects that use the favorite. This means, if the referenced item is moved or renamed, the favorite may need to be repaired.
• Items placed directly in the Favorites folder are always available and less likely to break than network-based favorites, making them a reliable option for frequently reused assets.
• Administrators can distribute system favorites as well. Watch a video and learn more.

Styles

Styles store symbols, colors, text, and legends items used when authoring maps, scenes, and layouts. By curating styles at the project level, you reduce repetitive symbol and layout decisions by limiting visual options to what is necessary for the work at hand.

Example: A cartographer might create and share an organizational style to limit symbol galleries to approved options, speeding up map authoring and ensuring consistent output without recreating symbology each time.

Key things to know:

• Only the styles added to a project determine what appears in symbol and layout galleries.
• System styles are read-only and always searchable, even if they are not added to the project.
• Styles can be shared as files for reuse in ArcGIS Pro projects or as web styles for use across desktop and web workflows.

Tip: Try expanding out from the most commonly used method of styles, which is for colors and symbols. Learn more about creating styles for text, layouts, and legends.

Layout Templates

Ok. Last but not in the very least is layout templates. A layout template is a saved layout that can be reused as a starting point for new layouts, preserving elements such as page size, map frames, legends, scale bars, and text blocks. Layout templates are especially useful when maps need to follow consistent formatting or production standards. Learn more on the ways you can accomplish this.

Example: A map author might start every map from the same layout template that includes approved page sizes, title blocks, and legend placement.

Key things to know:

• Layout templates preserve structure, not data content, making them reusable across multiple maps. They are most effective when page size, map frames, and supporting elements remain consistent across outputs.
• Layout templates can be included in project templates to ensure consistent map production from the start of every project.

Taken together, these user interface and project-level customizations deliver immediate, repeatable time savings. They don’t require advanced skills or significant time to set up. A few hours invested in personalizing your environment will pay dividends every time you open ArcGIS Pro. Be sure to bookmark this blog and refer to it as you try out some of these features in ArcGIS Pro.